1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input device that includes a flat input pad to which an input operation can be performed by an indicator such as a finger, and more particularly, to operability that is required to perform a predetermined function on a display screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been many plane coordinates input devices, which can recognize an operation performed by an indicator such as a finger, such as flat pointing devices provided in personal computers. The pointing device is adapted to be capable of not only moving a cursor on a display screen but also performing a specific function other than the movement of the cursor by performing an operation on, for example, a flat input pad.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-330711 discloses a technique where a plurality of specific regions are provided at corners of a plane coordinates input device and a specific function is performed by continuous contact between a finger and adjacent specific regions among the plurality of specific regions.
However, a finger is operated from a predetermined first specific region to the next specific region (second specific region) in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-330711. Accordingly, when a finger slides from the vicinity of an end of the first specific region and moves toward the second specific region, for example, in a case where a finger comes into contact with the vicinity of an end of the first specific region without coming into contact with the central portion of the first specific region, the moving direction of the finger is slightly inclined and deviates from the second specific region. For this reason, it is considered that there is also a case where an operation cannot be appropriately and easily performed.
Further, since the first specific region is provided at the corner of the input pad, it is difficult to operate the first specific region by a finger. Furthermore, even though the first specific region can be operated, the above-mentioned problem is apt to occur.
Moreover, there are actually various kinds of operation in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-330711 as shown in Table 2, Table 7, and the like of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-330711, and the various kinds of operation are complicated.